Tag: Parliamentary Question

Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to improve public trust and confidence in charities.

Mr Rob Wilson

The Government has taken a number of steps to improve public trust and confidence in charities in England and Wales

The Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 gives the Charity Commission new and enhanced powers to tackle serious abuses of charitable status. The Charity Commission is already taking a more robust approach to tackling abuse and mismanagement and has also simplified and updated guidance for trustees to remind them of their duties.

Following scandals in 2015 that highlighted unacceptable charitable fundraising practices, a new Fundraising Regulator has been established. Chaired by Lord Grade of Yarmouth, this independent regulator is tasked to set high standards of fundraising practice and to deal with public complaints when these have been breached. It has a range of sanctions and can refer serious noncompliance or abuse to the relevant statutory regulator.The Fundraising Regulator will also develop a Fundraising Preference Service to enable people who feel inundated with targeted fundraising requests to put a stop to them if they wish.

The Office for Civil Society and Innovation is further working with charities to explore the challenges facing the leadership of the voluntary and community sector. One of the four themes that has been identified as part of this work is ‘responding to decline in trust and confidence’. A dedicated working group has been convened to explore this issue and identify potential solutions.

January 1, 2023
Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will assess the potential merits of introducing more incentives to encourage motorists to use cleaner fuels and public transport.

Mr John Hayes

The Department for Transport assesses a number of different fuels in terms of a range of environmental impacts including air quality and greenhouse gas emissions. A number of initiatives are underway to encourage cleaner, lower carbon fuels.

This Government is investing over £600 million in this Parliament in addition, to a more favorable tax regime towards less polluting vehicles to ensure that almost all cars and vans are zero emission vehicles by 2050.

The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) has supported a market for low carbon fuels and delivered significant greenhouse gas emissions savings. In 2014/15 these savings were equivalent to taking 1.3 million cars off the road. We have been working with industry and others on proposals to increase the supply of low carbon fuels in line with our UK carbon budget targets. We plan to consult on proposed changes to the RTFO scheme later this year.

The Government will continue to promote public transport choices, supporting the market for innovative forms of transport and encourage a move to cleaner and lower carbon vehicles.

January 1, 2023
Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-10-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether introducing an elected mayor will be a requirement of all future devolution deals with combined authorities.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Development of devolution deals is a bottom up process, in which areas bring us their proposals for the powers and budgets they want devolved to them. The accompanying governance arrangements they propose to support those powers and budgets must be commensurate with the scale of devolution they are seeking.

Elected mayors provide that strong, single point of accountability which is essential for any devolution deal of the scale and ambition of the deals we have announced for Greater Manchester, Sheffield City Region, Tees Valley and the North East.

January 1, 2023
Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicola Blackwood on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much of his Department’s funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.

Mr David Lidington

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not have a dedicated research and development fund. Research to inform policy is conducted by FCO Research Analysts and by individual Directorates and overseas Posts, and funded from devolved budgets. It is therefore not possible to identify how much of the FCO’s allocated funding will be spent on these activities over the Spending Review 2015 period.

January 1, 2023
Poulter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2016-01-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how his Department defines the pay envelope in its work on considering the junior doctor contract.

Ben Gummer

The pay envelope for junior doctor contract reform is as agreed by the hon. Member in his previous capacity as a Minister for Health in 2013 when he approved the “Heads of Terms” for the junior doctor contract. The basis of the agreement is that the cost of the new junior doctor contract will not exceed the cost of the current contract, (expressed on a per full time equivalent basis). Subsequently, the current Government has made it clear that savings are not being sought and that junior doctors’ average earnings would not reduce as a result of the changes proposed.

January 1, 2023
Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support his Department is planning to give to countries affected by the Zika virus.

Mr Hugo Swire

British officials across the Americas have been working closely with their counterparts on steps to understand and prevent the spread of the disease. We have focused particularly on Brazil, which has seen the highest number of cases in the region. On 26 January, the UK announced a new Zika research project between Glasgow University and Fiocruz, a leading biomedical research centre in Brazil. The following day, a scientist from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine arrived in Recife to support Zika research led by the Pan American Health Organsation. Discussions are also ongoing between FCO officials and the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency with regards to combating this virus. On 1 February, the World Health Organisation (WHO) categorised the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. This declaration by the WHO allows for the immediate allocation of emergency funds to support their necessary medical research. The United Kingdom is already the WHO’s second largest donor, providing a £15 million assessed contribution in 2015 in addition to a further, voluntary, contribution from the Department For International Development (DFID) of £14.5 million.

January 1, 2023
Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) more cases of chronic lyme disease are correctly diagnosed and (b) more people with chronic lyme disease receive the appropriate treatment.

Jane Ellison

Our aim is to ensure that cases of Lyme disease at all its stages and manifestations are recognised and treated appropriately. The National Health Service provides medical care following international guidance and most cases are dealt with by general practitioners (GPs). To help ensure people receive the appropriate treatment Public Health England has published a referral pathway for GPs to follow. Where additional investigation is required, specialist referral may be necessary and a small number of NHS clinics will see complicated cases. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has been commissioned to develop guidelines for the recognition and treatment of Lyme disease; this is expected in June 2018.

Public Health England PHE) regularly review new tests for Lyme disease and participate in a Europe wide Quality Assurance programme to ensure that the most suitable tests available are used.

In addition, PHE provide information on Lyme disease and tick awareness to the medical profession and the public, and holds regular medical training days, and works with Lyme Disease Action to support the needs and interests of patients.

January 1, 2023
Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 23886, which UK representatives attended the meeting of the Reaper User Group between 14 and 18 March 2016.

Penny Mordaunt

UK attendance at the MQ-9 User Group was limited to representatives from the Royal Air Force, led by the Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance Force Commander.

January 1, 2023
Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many times explosive ordinance officers were deployed to deal with incidents in Northern Ireland between 1 July 2015 and 1 January 2016.

Penny Mordaunt

The Explosive Ordnance Device teams in Northern Ireland continue to respond with great professionalism to requests for assistance. We will continue to support the Police Service of Northern Ireland in the most operationally effective way.

Incidents requiring explosive ordnance disposal experts in Northern Ireland are dealt with solely by military personnel.

The information requested on the number of occasions Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel have responded to incidents in Northern Ireland is published annually in the Report of the Independent Reviewer of the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007. A copy of the report covering up to 31 July 2015 is available in the Library of the House and can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/499691/Independent_Reviewer_of_the_Justice_and_Security__Northern_Ireland__Act_2007__8th_report.pdf

Between August 2015 and December 2015, Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel responded on a further 111 occasions to incidents in Northern Ireland.

January 1, 2023
MiDavies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by MiDavies on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Sport England’s (a) implementation of the strategy to tackle inactivity and (b) use of funding for that purpose.

David Evennett

Government is determined to tackle physical inactivity. Around one in two women and a third of men in England are damaging their health through a lack of physical activity.

In December 2015, Government published ‘Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation", which set out a new vision for a successful and active sporting nation, with a strong focus on reaching inactive people and helping them to get moving in ways that suit them.

Sport England’s new strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’, published on 19 May, is consistent with, and takes forward, the Government’s vision and relevant recommendations from Sporting Future, including those on inactivity. It sets out the organisation’s plans for tackling inactivity, including by tripling its current investment to over £250m over 4 years, making it the largest single national investor in tackling inactivity. As part of that it will create a new, dedicated fund of £120 million to tackle inactivity over the next four years, building on the insight gained from pilots of their Get Healthy Get Active fund.

Government will report annually on progress in implementing ‘Sporting Future’.

January 1, 2023